1. The IP cloaking provided by Angeleno didnt do it's job. That time we enabled it was just to test it out (since Angeleno himself told me that it could easily be bypassed). You can make a post about it on the Dev's "to-do list" thread
>>33072. 6 mods (i include myself in this number) and two jannies. Mods on the zarty act more like approved jannies. Since a lot of us dont spend 24/7 on the zarty, it is crucial that most of us are provided with the necessary tools to deal with stuff like CSAM spammers and other offenders at any time, without the need to rely on one guy who may or may not be online. Trying to make the janitor role a "nerfed mod" while still being useful would just end up being a "mod 2.0". And because of the reason of us having lives outside the zarty, 5-8 mods is not a wild concept. What you, OP, would call "2 mods and an admin" in our situation is me (ultimately i hold the keys to everything), the dev (who i have nothing but respect for him) and my second in command (i have decided to put another co-admin who is more active on the site). Besides me, only the dev has full access to everything. The Co-Admin only has access to the admin version of the dashboard (so he also has powers to control the other mods, or, if you want to be more accurate, jannies).
Simply put, every site has their own way of moderating, depending on their situation. We have our own way of operating and deciding who can join, who can be trusted with moderation, who has to go etc. Besides some SNCA drama, we have not experienced any serious internal problem for the past (nearly) two years (basically from the very beginning). All of our current and past mods (yes, even nöok) have tried to exercise the rules and their meaning and to make the site bearable for the average user.
Of course, for the majority of the life span of the zarty, we have allowed VPNs to access the site (simply because we do wish to give users the option of more privacy). We sometimes deny access, depending on the situation (in most cases, its because of bot spams). Rn they are disabled (because of the whole drama that happened on sunday/monday) and will enable them again very soon (somewhere at the end of the week).